Jon Cooper ambled across the War Memorial ice Monday afternoon and batted the puck around with one of his youngest prospects, his 3-year-old son, also named Jon.

Cooper enjoyed the father-son moment but it wasn't the type of coaching he's used to at this point in the season.

Typically, he's leading a team into the playoffs and toward a championship. He took the Norfolk Admirals to the Calder Cup last year and had the Syracuse Crunch pointed that way late into the spring.

But parent club Tampa Bay, which promoted Cooper to replace the fired Guy Boucher on March 25, didn't make the postseason.

So instead of a team track suit and whistle, Cooper instead dressed the part of spectator in shorts and a shirt.

"It (stinks). We don't plan on missing (it again),'' Cooper said of Tampa Bay. "You know you want to be out there competing. The league is so close. All the teams are really talented. For us, this year was clearly a transition year. It will be good for everybody to know there will be a little stability moving forward.''

This trip is Cooper's first back in town since getting the Lighting job. His twin daughters, Julia and Josephine, turned 5 on Friday while Jon celebrates his third birthday this Friday.

The hands-on Cooper said he's had non-stop duties since the end of Tampa Bay's season, from helping decide what changes to make in the team's facilities to setting up the outline of off-season work to deciding where to live long-term.

"We're all brand new,'' Cooper said of he and his staff. "The one thing about coming to Syracuse was, I already knew the league. I just didn't know the city. Now, you are trying to figure out the league and the city. And there's a lot more outside the games you have to do (in the NHL).''

Cooper, the AHL's coach of the year last season, went 4-8-3 in his abbreviated start in Tampa Bay.

"As disappointing as it was not to be in the playoffs, and not to be a part of what's going in here, our organization is in a much better spot because I got to experience some games.'' he said. "I'm going to do the same thing I've done at every other level. There's a lot of things we'll put in place. In the end, it's going to be getting the players to buy into what we're doing. The regime before me did a lot of good things. I'm going to try to improve upon them. But it's an exciting challenge.

"The difference in the American League to the NHL, contracts can really tie your hands in the NHL. But I like a lot of our guys. There's a lot of things to like about what's going on. Now, we have to bring it all together.''

Cooper misses out on a chance to go for his second Calder Cup in a row, but he likes the chances of the team he left behind in Syracuse. The Crunch swept Portland in an Eastern Conference quarterfinal and is waiting to find out its next opponent. It will be either Wilkes-Barre/Scranton or Springfield.

"These guys are just carrying on what we've built for the last couple of years,'' he said. "When you build an organization, this is how you want to do it. You want to get to the top and stay at the top.

"The teams (Norfolk and Syracuse) are very similar. Very similar. This year's team, there could be more skill up front. Last year's team had a little bit more bigger, stronger, physical types. This team is more dynamic. I think this year's d-corps is really deep. There are guys sitting out on this year's team who would be be in other (teams') top four.''

Cooper also praised the job done by his replacement, former Crunch assistant Rob Zettler. Cooper described Zettler not only as an organizational colleague but as a close friend.

"He came in, I think he's done a hell of a job,'' Cooper said. "The best thing you have to be able to do is see what working. Instead of Zetts coming in and changing things up, he recognized what worked and kept things rolling. You could argue he has this train rolling better than I had it rolling.''

But the Syracuse players keep the man who could be their future boss in their front of their thoughts. At the end of practice, they all laughed and raised their sticks in the air toward Cooper sitting in the stands.

"Just being out here today, this is the most positive, electric group,'' Cooper said. "It's fun to be around these guys.''